Fluid fuel burner



July 15, 1958 R. w. BECKETT FLUID FUEL BURNER Filed March 14, 1950 I INVENTOR. Reginald WBeckett 1 l7 ATTORNEYS United States Patent 2,843,198 FLUID FUEL BURNER Reginald W. Beckett, Elyria, Ohio Application March 14, 1950, Serial No. 149,550 4 Claims. (Cl. 158-76) May 1, 1948 for Oil Burner of the Atomizing Type, now

States Patent 2,777,509.

Oil burners of the type involved in the present invention have been highly developed and are presently in common use in large numbers. There are, however, at

Other the lines of greater efficiency, quieter operation, and safety. 7

It is therefore the principal object of the present inthe same letters and numerals of In the drawings: Figure 1 is a side elevational view partly in section and with away and removed showing one form of fluid fuel burner structure embodying certain features of the invention;

Fig. 2 is an isometric view of a box containing a combustion control apparatus showing the terminal screws 2,843,198 Patented July 15 1958 wiring diagram showing electrical with the control for the burners;

with the front and rear Walls.

The housing is supported on a pedestal structure which comprises a cast metal base 7 and one or more supporting or spacing blocks or shells 8 and 9. One of or blocks, of cast iron or aluminum, other non-circular plan form.

corner of the spacing shell is an integral column WhlCh projects below the level assembly together.

An electric motor formed in the upper portion of the housing. The fan, inserted into the blower chamber through a large diameter opening 31 provided in the rear wall 2 of the housing, is secured on one end of the motor shaft 25. The motor shaft portion which projects from 3. the shaft ends. One or more set screws 40 threaded through the bell sleeve 32 are engaged in detents in the pump plug to lock the latter in the bell member sleeve and to retain the pump in predetermined upright position.

A- bracket 42 having a transversely curved body portion 43 is concave on its underside so as to fit over and partially embrace the top of the motor. At one end of the curved body 43' the bracket is formed with an integral depending flange 44 which is disposed flatwise against the rear wall 2 of the housing structure and is secured to the latter over the opening 31 by cap screws 45. The bracket flange 44 has a relatively small opening 46 which closely surrounds the motor shaft end 25.

Along opposite sides of the bracket at the lower edges of the arcuate or curved body 43 are horizontal portions or lateral extensions 47 which terminate in depending flanges 48. Rubber tension type suspension members 50 are secured by bolts 51 to the underside of the lateral bracket extensions.

One pair of the resilient rubber members 50 are attachcd by bolts to half straps 54 which cooperatively embrace the motor 22, the bolts passing through radial ears on the ends of the half straps and being threaded into metal elements embedded in the rubber of the suspension members. One of the half straps passes over the top of the forward portion of the motor and is disposed undern-eath the curved body portion 43 of the bracket. The other half strap 54 extends underneath the forward portion of the motor to support the latter. The other pair of the resilient rubber suspension members 50, which depend from portions of the bracket extensions 47 that project rearwardly of the curved body portion 43 of the bracket, are secured by bolts 56, threaded into embedded metal elements, to diametrically disposed integral ears 57 which extend outwardly from opposite sides ,of the bell-shaped support member 28.

Air is drawn into the fan chamber through an opening in the front wall 1 of the housing. Disposed against the outside of the front wall 1 of the housing and over the air inlet opening into the fan chamber so as to control the flow of air through such opening, is a hood 60 which may be of cast metal.

The hood is open across the bottom to permit the inflow of air under the control of a sheet metal gate pivotally mounted off center for turning movement about a horizontal axis. The gate is supported on pins 66 that are threaded through aligned openings in bottom portions of the side walls, the pins being held against turning by lock nuts 67.

The rear edges of the hood are directed toward an integral outstanding rib 69 which is formed on the front wall 1 of the housing and has the same contour or outline shape as the edges of the hood walls. The hood does not make peripheral contact with the housing rib 69 but is spaced therefrom by three integral bosses or raised portions, one of which is indicated at 70. Cap screws or bolts 72 pass through openings in ears 73 provided one on each side of the hood and are threaded into the front wall 1 of the housing structure. Each of the cap screws 72 is located between a top spacing boss and a side spacing boss so that the hood is held by threepoint contact tightly against the housing structure, there being a clearance 74 between the edges of the hood walls and the rib 69.

'In adjusting the burner for different oil rates the quantity of combustion ar drawn into the fan chamber through the opening in the bottom of the hood 60 is regulated by controlling the extent to which the gate opens. Customarily the amount of opening of the air inlet control gate is adjusted while the burner is in operation by means of a rod which extends vertically through the interior of the hood. A knurled thumb wheel 80 is threaded onto the top of the gate adjusting rod above the top wall of the hood and is held against turning on the rod by lock nut 81. i

Below the air induction hood 60 an elongated tapered tube 86 of circular cross section is attached by bolts 87 to the front wall 1 of the housing structure over an opening which communicates with an air passage formed in the housing structure below the fan chamber. Combustion supporting air drawn into the housing through the hood 60 is forced by the fan 23 down into the air chamber in the bottom of the housing and thence out through the circular passage in the air tube $6 and through a burner head which extends through the walls of the fire box of the combustion chamber, not shown.

Fuel oil from a source not shown is supplied by the pump 35 and forced from the latter through a bendable conduit 88 which may be of copper to a rigid conduit 89 supported by a bracket 91 so as to extend longitudinaily through the center of the air tube 86. Forwardly of the bracket 91 the fuel conduit 89 carries a spider 93 that locates the conduit in the center of the air tube. A hollow manifold 94- is threaded on the end of the conduit 89 and mounts a pair of nozzles 95. The sparking ends of ignition electrodes 96 are received through spaced insulators, one of which is indicated at 97, supported by clamps 93 mounted on the rigid fuel conduit 89.

Electrical current for energizing the ignition spark across the ends of the electrodes 96 is supplied by a transformer 100 hinged along one edge to the housing for turning movement about a vertical axis. The transformer is normally disposed across an opening through the rear wall 2 of the housing structure and has a pair of electrical terminals which extend into the air chamber in the bottom of the housing. The transformer serves as a closure for the opening in the rear wall and the electrodes 96 carry contact elements that automatically make electrical connection between the electrodes and the transformer terminals when the transformer is swung to closed position across the housing opening.

The rigid fuel conduit 89 and the electrodes 96 and the other parts carried thereby comprise an assembly which is removable as a unit from the air tube for replacement or adjustment. The bendable conduit 88 extends through a lateral extension of the rear opening in the housing structure to one side of the transformer 100 and is disconnected from the fuel pump 35 when it is desired to remove the fuel conduit and ignition electrode assembly from the burner. A base portion 101 on the bracket 91 is contoured to correspond to the curvature of the bottom of the air chamber of the housing and is apertured to receive an upstanding bolt 102 that extends upwardly through a hole in the bottom 6 of the burner housing. A nut 103 on the bolt 102 is tightened down against the base 101 of the bracket to secure the latter in place, the bolt having a square or non-circular head 104 that is received in a mating recess formed in the underside of the housing bottom 6 so as to prevent tllfi'lling of the bolt when tightening or loosening the nut An integral finger one of the walls of the uppermost spacing block 8 engages the head 104 of the bolt to prevent the bolt from dropping out of the hole provided therefor in the housing bottom 6. Thus the bolt is retained in place when the nut 103 is removed for withdrawal of the ignition electrode and fuel conduit assembly. This particular arrangement for retaining the bracket locking bolt 102 reduces the assembly cost of the burner, since machining of the casting which constitutes the burner housing is avoided. Furthermore, the bolt 102 can be readily replaced should it be broken or damaged.

Control of the electrical current to energize the motor and the transformer is effected by means such as the electronic combustion safety system manufactured by Minneapolis-Honeywell Regulator Company and known as the R177A relay and the Series 10 controller. The. side wall 4 of the burner housing is formed to receive a junction box 106 to which is mounted the control mecha- 105 which extends inwardly from nism. Electrical leads or wires 111 and 112 from the motor 22 are contained in an insulated conduit 107 which runs through an opening in the rear wall of the housing and through an internal chamber of the housing, the

108 and the other to terminal 110.

A wiring diagram showing suitable electrical connections for the burner is illustrated in Fig. 3, the showing purely diagrammatic and relating to the above menmentioned above employs a conventional photoelectric or phototube cell 118 to monitor the operation of the burner. In starting up the burner, the photocell responds to the establishment of a flame ergization of the electric ignition and to place the electnc heater of a thermal safety The photoelectric cell or phototube can be located in any suitable position where it is exposed to the light rays container 125 which faces toward the open mouth of the burner head 90. The container is supported on a bracket 120 which is slidable to different positions along the rigid fuel conduit 89.

A flexible electric conductor 121 is connected to the anode of the photocell 118 through the rear of the casing 125 and extends through the air tube and the air chamber in the bottom of the housing, thence through the aforesaid internal chamber of the housing and into the the particular conditions and requirements of any one burner installation. For example, the air tube 86 may resorted to as desired, it being understood that the embodiments shOWn in the drawings and described above are given merely for purposes of explanation and illustration without intending to limit to the specific details disclosed.

What I claim and desire to secure by of the United States is:

1. In a pressure atomizing fluid fuel burner of the type Letters Patent through one end of the air tube, said burner having ignition electrodes and a 2. In a pressure atomizing type having a structure for pumping air into a combustion chamber, said structure including a hollow housing control system contained in a box having captive electrical terminals arranged in a predetermined pattern, a junction box mounted externally on and wholly supported by the air pumping structure, said junction box having an open side and a plurality of fixed electrical terminals exposed on said open side and arranged in a predetermined pattern complemental to the pattern of the control box terminals for mounting open side of the mined relation, supporting such control element the pumping structure in position to receive directly radiant energy admitted into the air tube through said one end, electrical conductor means extending between the junction box and said motor conductor means both passing into the junction box through another side of the latter, and said control element conductor means being located substantially wholly within and protectively enclosed by the pumping structure.

3. In a pressure atomizing fluid fuel burner of the type having a blower structure for pumping air, said structure including a hollow housing, an air tube extending from the housing and having walls defining an internal passage continuous with the interior of the housing for receiving air from the latter and conducting the received air to one end of the air tube for discharge into a combustion chamber, said burner having ignition electrodes and a fuel tube connected together as an assembly and extending longitudinally through the air tube passage, said blower structure including a fan and electric drive means for the fan carried by the housing, said burner including electric transformer means carried by the housing for supplying ignition current to the electrodes of the assembly, a combustion control system comprising a box having captive electrical terminals arranged in a predetermined pattern, a junction box mounted externally on and wholly supported by the housing of the blower structure, said junction box having an outwardly facing open side and a plurality of fixed electrical terminals exposed on said open side and arranged in a predetermined pattern complemental to the pattern of the control box terminals for mounting of the control box on and over the open side of the junction box for facile connection of the control box terminals to the junction box terminals in predetermined relation, and electrical conductor means extending between the junction box terminals and both the electric fan drive means and the electric transformer means, said electrical conductor means from both the drive means and the transformer means passing into the junction box through the interior of the housing and through another side of the junction box.

4. In a pressure atomizing fluid fuel burner of the type having a structure for pumping air into a combustion chamber, said structure including a hollow housing and an air tube extending from the housing for conducting combustion air to be discharged through one end of the air tube, a fan in the housing, an electric motor mounted on the air pumping structure and operatively connected to the fan to actuate the latter, ignition electrodes and a fuel supply tube connected together as an assembly and extending through the air tube, an electric transformer mounted on the structure, means electrically connecting the transformer to the ignition electrodes of the assembly, a combustion control system contained in a box having captive electrical terminals arranged in a predetermined pattern, a junction box mounted externally on and wholly supported by the air pumping structure, said junction box having an open side and a plurality of fixed electrical terminals exposed on said open side and arranged in a predetermined pattern complemental to the pattern of the control box terminals for mounting of the control box on and over the open side of the junction box and for facile connection of the control box terminals to the junction box terminals in predetermined relation, a light responsive control element, means supporting such control element. within the pumping structure in position to receive directly radiant energy admitted into the air tube through said one end, electric conductor means extending between the junction box terminals and both the motor and the transformer, electrical conductor means extending between the junction box terminals and the control element, said control element conductor means and said motor and transformer conductor means all passing into the junction box through another side of the latter, and said control element conductor means being located substantially wholly within and protectively enclosed by the pumping structure.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNlTED STATES PATENTS June 21, 

